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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “acf forms”

wp.org orders by popularity, so a plugin a host bundled onto millions of sites, or a big-brand one that's slow and mediocre, can sit at the top. Our ranking is built to answer a different question: which of these is actually worth installing. How this works →

For “acf forms”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 3 plugins are pushed down for signals wp.org ignores: errors, a host-installed base, or removal risk.

wp.org search ranks on

Install count (uncapped), the raw star average, freshness, and support. Popularity dominates, so the biggest install base usually wins regardless of how it got there.

We add

A cap on the install boost, volume-weighted ratings, and signals wp.org can't see: whether it throws errors on current PHP, whether the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Dynamic ACF Repeater for Elementor shows at wp.org #9 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) places #10 on merit, 5.0★ from 423 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #1 2 Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) wp.org #2 3 ACF Frontend Admin by DynamiApps 8K+ · 4.5★ (160) wp.org #3 4 Advanced Forms for ACF 3K+ · 5.0★ (41) wp.org #4 5 Advanced Custom Fields: Extended 100K+ · 4.8★ (132) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Formidable Forms – Contact Form, Survey, Quiz, Payment, Calculator Form & Custom Form Builder 300K+ · 4.8★ (1388) wp.org #10 ↑1 4 too low 7 hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88) wp.org #8 ↑1 1 too low 8 Bit Form – Contact Form, Payment Forms, Multi Step Forms, Calculator & Custom Form Builder 10K+ · 5.0★ (259) wp.org #14 ↑1 6 too low 9 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #17 ↓4 8 too low 10 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #23 ↓1 13 too low 11 WS Form LITE – Drag & Drop Contact Form Builder 10K+ · 5.0★ (322) wp.org #24 13 too low 12 WP All Import – Import Add-On for ACF 50K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #5 7 too high 13 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #19 ↓1 6 too low 14 Meta Field Block – Display Custom Fields for ACF, Meta Box and More 10K+ · 5.0★ (57) wp.org #16 ↑1 2 too low 15 Advanced Views – Display Framework – Gutenberg/Elementor/Shortcode 3K+ · 4.8★ (36) wp.org #15 ↑1 16 CF7 Apps – Addons for Contact Form 7 (Honeypot, Database, Redirection, Webhook, etc.) 300K+ · 3.8★ (135) wp.org #11 ↓3 5 too high 17 Image Aspect Ratio Crop Field for Advanced Custom Fields 20K+ · 4.8★ (26) wp.org #21 4 too low 18 ACF Galerie 4 2K+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #7 11 too high 19 Advanced Custom Fields: Gravity Forms Add-on 30K+ · 4.2★ (14) wp.org #18 ↑1 1 too high 20 ACF Field For CF7 10K+ · 4.7★ (11) wp.org #12 8 too high 21 CSV Importer Plus for ACF 400+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #13 ↑1 8 too high 22 Dynamic ACF Repeater for Elementor 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #9 ↑1 13 too high 23 Fresh Forms for Gravity 3K+ · 4.7★ (7) wp.org #20 3 too high 24 Frontend Editor ACF 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #22 ↑1 2 too high

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 1M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted Bayesian score and a Wilson lower bound, and keeps wp.org's own freshness and compatibility decays. Method from the plugin-directory source; see Meta Trac #8298. Positions are tracked daily from the first visit to a keyword, so the small arrows show movement since tracking began.